Natacha Mercier is a subversive artist. Her approach is based on the delicate nature of her chosen media, a subtle play between occultation and disclosure of the image that questions the gaze and painting itself; it is also firmly grounded in a solid pictorial culture, as it would be impossible to interrogate such a subject without knowing it inside out.

Confronted with her work, the viewer hesitates. What is the meaning of this cold and seemingly white surface offering the illusion of a pure void? In order to qualify it, one could make an analogy with Pierre Soulages’ outrenoir (or ultrablack) and propose the term outreblanc (or ultrawhite) since the image reveals itself beyond the whiteness, once the eye has reached past doubt and embraced it. Indeed the viewer needs to learn to lift the veil of appearances and embark on a sensorial adventure connected to the progressive reading. Nothings comes to help with interpretation. Only the presence of a polished surface, based on car painting techniques, allows light to reveal what is hidden.

Thierry Savatier, art historian. Extract of Natacha Mercier or The Poetics of the Veil, april 2016). Translated from the French by Caroline Hancock.